‘Hair’ National Tour Wraps January 29 in Cleveland

The first national tour of “Hair” will wrap up January 29 in Cleveland, Ohio, it was announced Thursday. The tour for the musical that proclaims messages of peace and free love began in October 2010 and had a cast that included many actors from the 2008 Broadway revival. The tour returned the show to Broadway for a limited engagement running from July 5 to September 10, 2011. The 2008 revival of the show represented the first time “Hair” had been on Broadway since 1977 and went on to earn the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical.

Diane Paulus directed the Broadway revival and tour of “Hair,” and Karole Armitage choreographed the show. Troika Entertainment produced the touring production, and the company is expected to launch a second tour in the fall of this year.

The recent revival began as a 40th anniversary special concert held at the Delacorte Theater in 2007, and a production was then held as part of Shakespeare in the Park the following year. That run was extended three times before the production transferred to the Al Hirschfeld Theatre in March 2009. A London revival followed in 2010.

“Hair” originally debuted off-Broadway in 1967 and was moved to Broadway the following year and ran for 1,750 performances. Now known as the original “rock musical,” the production was controversial when it premiered due to its profanity, depiction of illegal drugs and nude scene.

The musical is seen now as a landmark in social activism for its exploration of the counter-culture and sexual revolution occurring at the time it was produced. Many songs from the production became anthems of the anti-Vietnam movement. The original cast recording from the musical won the 1968 Grammy Award for Best Score from an Original Cast Show Album. The record went on to sell more than 3 million copies before the decade ended.

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